


The Making of a Marriage

by lionessvalenti



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Attempted Murder, First Kiss, M/M, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Mid-Credits Scene Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-18 07:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17576945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: Bucky had ideas of what marriage would be like. This was not it.





	The Making of a Marriage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unforgotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/gifts).



Bucky had never been married before, but he had some idea what he thought married life would be like. He pictured quiet conversations while curled up together in bed, bickering over the little things, and cooking breakfast for one another. Mostly, though, it would be having someone to share your life with.

He'd only been married for a month, but so far it wasn't anything like that.

This was made clearly evident by waking up with a the sharp edge of a cold blade to his throat. Bucky grabbed a hold of Loki's wrist and wrenched his hand away. The knife was flung somewhere into the darkness of Bucky's bedroom. He heard it bang against a wall.

"When are you going to stop this?" Bucky asked.

It was the third time Loki had tried to murder him, though this was the first direct attack. The first time, Loki had tried to poison him. It was crude, and Bucky's heightened sense of smell caught it before the glass had even touched his lips. The next time was two weeks later, with an elaborate trap involving ropes and an axe in Bucky's bedroom.

Loki didn't answer the question. "What would you have done if I'd had a knife in the other hand?"

Bucky twisted Loki's wrist back, and then used the leverage of Loki's body pulling away from him to flip them both over, so Bucky was now on top. He dug his knee into Loki's left elbow, effectively holding him down.

"This," he said. "Now will you stop?"

"Unlikely," Loki replied. He was physically cringing with pain as Bucky bore his entire weight atop him, but his voice betrayed nothing. "You want no part of this and neither do I, but the contract only ends if one us is dead. I've worked very hard at surviving."

Bucky had agreed to the marriage with Loki because no one else seemed willing to step up when the deal was proposed. The Asgardians could stay, as long as Loki was bound, both magically and legally, to someone approved by a council. Bucky didn't know any of these people, but the longer the silence went on, he could see the expression of dejection in Thor's face, and the unease of the Asgardian people. Their world had been destroyed, and the only thing standing between them and a new world was Loki.

Someone had to do something. So Bucky volunteered.

Now it was starting to seem like a mistake.

"I don't think I want out of it as much as you do," Bucky replied. He released Loki and flopped down next to him. Though they had never shared a bed, it was more than large enough for two. They weren't even touching. "I don't know what you think you're going to gain from this. If you kill me, they're just going to send your people away. Or banish you."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Loki muttered.

"Then why do it?"

Loki was silent, except for the soft whisper of his breath as he contemplated. "I've made many enemies," he said finally. "Asgard had many protections that Earth does not. When they find out where I am, they may come for me. And anyone connected to me."

Bucky blinked up at the dark expanse of the ceiling above. He thought about the attack minutes before. Loki had advantage of surprise, the darkness, and two hands. If he'd wanted to stab Bucky in the gut while holding a knife to this throat, there would have been time. Instead, he wanted to know what Bucky's reaction to two knives would have been.

Sitting up, Bucky turned on the bedside lamp, the room flooding with light. Now he could see how disheveled Loki was in his pajamas, a white undershirt and black lounge pants, and the bruise blooming on the inside of his arm. "You don't want out of this at all. You're not trying to kill me. You're testing me."

Loki squinted at him. "Now, why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Bucky replied, and then kissed him. He didn't really consider it, though the move made no sense. They'd never kissed before. They hadn't even kissed each other at the wedding.

Loki made a noise of surprise, but his mouth opened to receive the kiss. He shoved a hand into Bucky's hair and pulled at it sharply. Bucky growled and nipped at Loki's lower lip before he leaned back. Loki's face was flushed, and he swallowed hard as he stared up at Bucky.

"Is this what you wanted?" Bucky asked, leaning down again to press a kiss to Loki's neck. During all of the attempted murder, Bucky hadn't felt much toward Loki besides annoyance. Knowing Loki _cared_ , and that he was quite good at kissing, made not touching him more difficult.

Loki shuddered and Bucky took that as his answer.

"Then why try to kill me?"

"They told me you were a warrior," Loki replied. His voice had dropped low, and maybe in some other context, it would have made him sound dangerous, but in this moment, he only sounded aroused. "But I needed to be sure you were up for the task."

There was a strange logic to it, but Bucky was more caught on the question of what Loki would have done if he _had_ managed kill his new husband. Sure, that would have meant Bucky wasn't worthy of the marriage, by this very severe standard, but Loki would have been exactly where he started a month ago, except with a murder on top of it.

It didn't matter, Bucky supposed. Loki wasn't great a long term thinking, so what? Bucky was incredibly tactical, which meant they had a good balance. In the end, he had not been murdered and now he was having a quiet conversation in bed with his husband. Perhaps they bickered with knives and poison. Bucky could handle that. Maybe, after everything, this was a marriage after all. Or, at the very least, it was a place to start.

Bucky climbed atop Loki and kissed him again. Loki shoved his hands down the back of Bucky's sleep pants, and Bucky grinned into the kiss.

In the morning, he would cook breakfast.


End file.
